Genius' Clan
by Shinsei Tonbo
Summary: Being a genius is hard,no one wants anything to do with you-including your own big brother. College was one of the best times of Charlie's life-he found family and understanding friends. How could he explain to Don & Dad about his own family? slash
1. College Excitement

A young teen, just barely thirteen, stood beside his mother as she registered him for his previously picked classes. His excitement was causing him to bounce on the balls of his feet; finally he'd find a challenge. He was saddened that Donny, his big brother had taken the first chance he got to disappear out of his life but the experiences ahead of him outweighed the sadness he felt.

The boy was abruptly thrown from his swiftly roving thoughts by the impact of a form slighter than his own. When he turned he saw a girl, younger than himself; she was pale with a multitude of freckles across her nose, light brown hair, and excited green eyes.

What happened next almost caused his own fast moving brain to overload.

"Hi! I'm Adina! Are you going here? Or are you just with your mom to sign up for classes for her? We, Ryan and I, are checking out Colleges with our brig brother and sister. We're all going to go to the same college, 'cept Ryan and I are gunna join them next year, we still have to graduate high school. High school is gunna suck without them there with us, but it won't be so bad. The bullies are scared of us since we could figure out a way to hurt them and no leave evidence. Anyways, do you kn—Mph!!!"

The diatribe form the overly excited girl was cut off when a hand slammed itself over her mouth.

"Adina! Breathe! Uh, hi, sorry about her, she's not supposed to have too much sugar otherwise she acts like a chipmunk on crack. Unfortunately, she had three donuts and a glass of fruit juice this morning for breakfast."

"Oh, that's okay; I act like that with Lemon Meringue Pie or a new math equation. I, um, I'm Charlie. And yes, I'm going here next semester. You guys are graduating next year? That's so cool! Finally someone my age graduating from high school, too! Where do you guys live? What do you like to do? Can we hang out some time?"

Just as quickly as his excitement had been interrupted, it came back, but for an entirely different reason. These two were the same age as him almost and they were just as smart as him! They would understand the stuff he liked!

Margaret had finished registering Charlie shortly after the young girl had bumped into him. Watching him with the two other kids, seeing their excitement as they began discussing things she could barely follow she smiled, she had never seen him fit in so well with other kids his age.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed an aged African woman, a young Latino girl and a young African man walk up to them; she was shocked to hear the woman address her after looking at the kids together.

"Hello, I'm Rona Wolfe, I'm so sorry if those two are causing you any trouble."

"No, no trouble. In fact, I've never seen my son so at ease with kids his own age. Are you their babysitter . . .?"

Rona Laughed, "No, I'm the foster mother of all four these kids. I've been taking care of them for quite a few years now. Those two are trouble on the best of times and hellions at the worst because they're so smart. I just wanted to make sure they're not confusing you."

"Well, actually I think it's a bit of a blessing in disguise that they've met."

"Really?"

"Yes, my son has always had trouble making friends his own age because of how smart he is; he meeting those two is probably the best thing that has happened. I've been so worried that he'll never be able to interact socially."

"I know how you feel. Ryan has had the most trouble interacting with the outside world out of these four, but his problems are a bit more than just being smart."

Margaret looked at her son, watching him and the two children chat animatedly about various topics. They appeared to be as thick as thieves already. Turning to say something she realized she had made a slight faux pas.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Margaret Eppes and that is my son Charlie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Margaret. Those two are Ryan and Adina, and these two are Damien and Angelica Wolfe.

* * *

_It was the start of a beautiful friendship, one that over the years turned them into family._


	2. Poor Substitute

Another case, another criminal behind bars.

Charlie was beginning to understand why Ryan did this, why they helped for the big situations and with the small crimes—even if they were criminals themselves sometimes.

Charlie stretched as he walked through the plaza, steps just slightly faster than Don's and Cooper's.

They had invited him to have lunch with them after the fugitive and his cohort were behind bars just so that he could hear the stories of Don's time in fugitive recovery.

It was fun, but he also felt like a third wheel on a bicycle, unneeded and then the numbers began to fight for his attention.

He could hear them joking and picking on each other behind him.

Bored and not willing to succumb to the threat of a number haze, he spied a hurried businessman, and the temptation was too great, even with two agents behind him.

Sometimes he cursed Ron for teaching him these things—other times he was happy for the excitement it provided, the distraction from the numbers.

Besides if he bumped into someone it would be seen as him being the absent-minded professor again, even if the entire thing was orchestrated to keep him from falling for the numbers seductive lure.

When he did, it was so easy, so simple to slip the man's wallet into his own jacket pocket, Don apologizing profusely for his brother's clumsiness.

Cooper, however was staring at him with a crooked eyebrow, a smirk twisting his lips as Don berated Charlie.

"Geez Charlie, can't you walk a little ways without getting lost in the numbers?"

It surprised him sometimes how gullible his big brother really was, even after learning about his clearance and that he consulted for various agencies, Don always seemed to think that Charlie was innocent and naïve.

When Don turned away, Charlie winked at Cooper, his brother missing the whole exchange.

When they got back to the FBI building, Charlie followed to them inside to gather his things.

Cooper followed Charlie, speaking quietly so Don wouldn't hear.

"That was a good lift, Professor, I didn't think you had it in you to do something like that."

"Well, what can I say. Don doesn't know everything about me. He's wrong when he said I couldn't keep a secret."

Cooper smiled, "You definitely are more than you seem to be, aren't you?"

Charlie grinned a small, slightly evil smile.

"What was your first clue?"

Charlie left after that, leaving a bemused Billy Cooper in his wake.

Before he left to track down another fugitive, Cooper turned to his old partner with a sly smile—Colby, Megan, and David surreptitiously listening for info on he past between the two.

"I'd keep a closer eye on you brother, Eppes, there's more there than meets the eye with him."

Don and his team stared at Cooper, slightly confused.

"What do you mean? He's just Charlie, sure he's done things with other agencies, but that's it."

Cooper shook his head.

"For all that you see Eppes, sometimes you're blind when it comes to those close to you."

Don scowled at the reference to his relationships but watched as Cooper left, wondering what it was that he knew about Charlie.

Colby pondered what Agent Cooper said as he and his teammates finished up their paperwork.

Charlie did seem to understand things more than Don realized, let him believe he didn't know anything to do with government operations.

But was there more to the Whiz Kid than that?

* * *

Charlie relaxed against the couch in his office, a smile playing at his lips as he thought about the five hundred dollars he had gained that day and the numbers a buzz in the back of his mind.

Who kept five hundred dollars in cash on them anyways?

Still, it was fun doing that right under Don's nose.

Charlie looked up as the door opened.

"What're you smiling at Charlie?"

Amita stood there, leaning against the door jam.

"Nothing really, just the joy of doing something illegal while Don stood just a few steps behind me. How's Marissa doing?"

Amita grinned as thoughts of her girlfriend pervaded her thoughts.

"Great, we're going out to dinner tonight. How was your lunch with your brother?"

"Good, I got a bit bored though and the numbers tried to climb their way to the forefront of my mind."

Amita began to look concerned, her eyebrows pinching together.

"Are you going to be okay? I know doing whatever it was you did will only keep them away for long."

A sad smile trekked it's way across Charlie's face.

"I have to be, Dad and Don never have understood how troublesome my mind is, and I don't think they quite ever will. It's hard, yeah, but you and Marissa help, so does Larry in his own abstract way—even Dad and Don help a little. I just gotta keep holding on as best I can until I find someone who can ground me again. It's been five years, I think I can last for a while longer."

Amita walked over and hugged him.

"No matter what, Mar and I will help you float as best we can, we love you. We don't want you to drown in the numbers, Charlie."

* * *

There was a lot more to Charles Edward Eppes, than met the eye.

The sad thing, though, was that no one seemed to realize it, and those who did didn't seem to begrudge the vision he let the rest of the world see, if anything they understood his reason to pretend he was a sweet little genius.

He was a genius in Logic and Mathematics, of course there was going to more to him than just that.

People tended to ignore that though, so pulling off illegal stunts became a game, something to help with his treacherous thoughts.

Pit pocket a little, steal something from a store—it was when he was asked by his own government to do something nefarious, that he really got an adrenaline rush.

It was a leave of logic.

A leave of everything people expected of him, even though logic permeated the act, it was the fact that the act in question was _illogical_ to perform in the first place that gave him the rush.

It was a poor substitute to keeping himself sane, but it worked for a little while.

William "Billy" Cooper was the only one of the FBI agents Don surrounded himself with to notice something.

It made Charlie's lip twitch, trying to form a smile when he thought about.

It takes like minds to see those like themselves, doesn't it?

Cooper was in fugitive recovery because it was as close of a criminal way of living as he could be without being a criminal.

You had to think like a criminal to catch one on the run after all.

He wondered if Don ever realized that it wasn't just the math that allowed him to help catch the criminals?

Probably not.

Still, he knew both his brother and his father would have aneurisms if they knew his could pick locks, crack safes, or steal a person's wallet with ease. Hacking. . . That was easy but boring, that was just about numbers and logic once more, besides Adina's programs were the only ones that could provide a challenge.

He wondered if catching criminals was the only way Cooper kept himself from becoming one, just as Charlie used stealing to keep himself from becoming comatose with no escape.


	3. Oppressed Fury

Agent Billy Cooper may be mostly nomadic due to his job, but he was still based in Quantico. So it was really no surprise to Don when he learned during one of his conversations with his friend that he also knew FBI Sniper Ian Edgerton.

What would have surprised him, though, was that whenever the two were in the same place at the same time they traded notes about the Eppes brothers and the team over a beer and possibly a steak. They were both rather similar after all, both were nomads in their own country and both were excellent trackers—the only difference was their approaches to getting a criminal. Cooper hunted them down, Ian was called in to kill them.

Two months had passed since Cooper had seen the Eppes brothers, he finally had a chance to sit down and have a friendly dinner with the "Sniper God" and relate to him this little story.

Charles Edward Eppes, Ph D. Ph D., had filched another mans wallet from underneath his brothers own nose.

Ian Edgerton choked on his baked potato due to laughter, thinking Cooper was making it up.

When Cooper outlined the entire lift along with a description of the man Charlie had stolen from, Ian started to believe him, if only barely. This was not what he'd expect from the younger Eppes, in fact it seemed too out of character from all that he'd seen of him.

He pointed it out to Cooper, but the red head pointed out in response that did either of them really _know_ Charlie?

All that they knew was what they saw of him when he helped, that he had scarily high clearance, and some stories Don had shared from his childhood. And Don was still learning things about his brother because of their stint of no communication.

There was more to the genius than just being a genius.

It was something they would both investigate further the next time they saw the Brothers.

* * *

Charlie scowled and chewed his lip as he corrected his undergraduates assignments.

His father, Don, and Don's team had been walking on eggshells around him for weeks.

The reason?

The five year anniversary of his mothers funeral.

It was driving him nuts.

He had a break down when she passed, he knew that.

He left to be with people who understood his ability to allow his mind to vacate the here and now after it had happened—they helped him cope and helped him find alternate means of grounding his mind.

So his main reaction to her death was taken care of, he would not react the same way to the fifth anniversary of it.

He wouldn't allow himself too and he was sure Mama Ro and the rest wouldn't allow him to either.

Now, just how to explain it to Don and Dad? How to explain these people who were family to both him and his mother?

Or maybe, he'd let them find out on their own.

Charlie owned the house now, he could have people over without having to tell his father.

Charlie's grin would have scared his father, Don, and Don's team if they saw it—it was down right predatory.

* * *

Charlie was finishing up some equations for Don about a serial murderer when he got a call from Uncle Ron.

David Sinclair, who had been notified about what was coming, was there to coordinate the tips and information they received from the LAPD and to keep an eye on him and make sure he was still responsive to the outside world.

David was left confused as Charlie started to make what sounded like arrangements over the phone.

What confused him more was what he called some of them.

David was sure Don didn't know his younger called another person "Mama Ro."

* * *

Charlie had learned long ago that giving only half the information would often times confuse the people trying to listen in on his conversations, especially when only a first, code, or nickname was used.

So, aware that Agent David Sinclair—a good friend of both Don and him—was in the room, he spoke not using anyone's full name and calling Rona "Mama Ro," as he would have any way.

It would confuse him and when Agent Sinclair reported back to his brother it would piss Don off exponentially. Charlie's grin became shark like, knocking his brother down a few pegs would be fun—hopefully he wouldn't underestimate him anymore.

It wasn't his fault Don decided to disappear out of his life for years on end until their mother was dying.

It wasn't his fault that his father never really tried to learn more about the people that he had become friends with while he was at college. The only reason he knew Larry was because the man was here in California with him.

He had people he considered family on the other side of the country.

People his mother had decided were family, too.

He would make sure they were here this time to celebrate her life and honor her death.

* * *

Don was angry.

How could Charlie do something like this?

How could he replace their mother?

Was that why he never fell into the trap that was his mind anymore?

He had another person he called Mother?

Don was scowling when they caught the serial killer, his anger just not at the creep but at his own brother, too.

That was why when he got to his childhood home he slammed the door open and closed, heedless if his father was there to hear what he had to say to his younger sibling.

"Charlie!"

The slammed door had made their father jump and come to see what the problem with his oldest was, especially worried when he roared for his youngest.

"What did he do, Donny?"

Don growled.

"You know how we've been cautious lately about Charlie, afraid he may slip into his number crazed haze again?"

Alan nodded.

"Well I found out the reason he hasn't slipped into it again is because of someone he calls 'Mama Ro!' Apparently he's replaced Mom with someone new, probably someone who's just as much of a math geek as he is."

* * *

Through out Don's entire rant, neither he nor his father noticed Charlie standing at the entrance to the garage, lounging against the frame, eyebrow raised high as he listened to his blood brother rant.

So when he spoke, his voice smooth and bland, both jumped and turned to him, Don glaring and his father with an unreadable expression on his face.

"You know, Don, you should never make assumptions when you don't have all the intel on it, it leads to mistakes and they could blow up in you face later."

Charlie stared at them both, his face blank, contemplating if he should tell them what's going on or if he should just keep it all to himself and let them stew over all of this. And though they couldn't see much emotion on his face his eyes were a different story—his eyes seemed to smolder with anger, the already dark brown meshing with his pupil to become a furious ebony.

It wasn't his fault if they never tried to understand him as more than their genius child/brother. Sure, they had all gotten closer, but they learned as he revealed things to them, they never actively tried to unbury his secrets.

"Mom and I met Mama Ro, Damien, Angelica, Ryan, Adina, and Ron while I was at Princeton. They were there looking at schools for them to register at, Adina and Ryan, whom are both just a few years shy of myself, were going to be going to College after they finished their final year of high school. Adina bumped into me and we all became friends. Mom told you over the phone, Dad, so you can't say mom never told you she made some friends while in Jersey with me."

Charlie turned his furious eyes from his father to Don, pinning them both with his words and his eyes.

"In fact Don, if you had tried to keep up communications with me and mom while we were both in school you would have met them, liked them even.

"Damien is a neurosurgeon at John Hopkins in Maryland , Angelica is a reputable and upcoming fashion designer in New York, Adina is the best computer programmer in the states and Ryan is a top notch chemist as well as a damn good CSI, both of whom are in Miami.

"Neither of you tried to visit us, and the reason we stayed there is because we had friends—_Family_—there and they needed to be with us as much as we needed you to want to be with us. I know you were pissed at Mom deciding that I could go to a school far away because you wanted her here.

"They are my family. They were Mom's family. They never got the chance to say goodbye because I lost my anchor, lost the one person who I felt could always tie me to reality when it was needed. I get that you were pissed before she died because I zoned out, but she understood.

"In those last days when I could just feel her slipping—even in my hazy mind— while you slept I went and saw her a few last times. She knew I didn't mean it, didn't mean to abandon her. She understood; she was the one who told me that after she went, I had to go where she knew I would be able to get my head out of 'Numbersville.' She, out of the two of you, understood me and what I go through the most.

"So don't either of you dare tell me what I can and cannot call other people. I've called Mama Ro that since shortly after I met her almost 2 decades ago. Just like I call Ron 'Uncle Ron' and how I consider Anastasia and Remington my niece and nephew. Even if you never consider them family, they always will be to Mom and I."

Alan and Don stared at Charlie as he glowered at them.

"Goddamnit, I'm not made of glass, I may be a bit absent minded but I can take of myself and I have my own life—I'm not just a _Math Genius, _I'm **Me**. They're coming for the anniversary of Mom's death—Mama Ro, Ryan, and Anya are staying here. I don't care if either of you have problems with them, I bought this house from Dad so it's mine now and they are my family as much as you two are, I want them here and if you don't, then you guys can find other places to be while they're here."

* * *

They watched as the youngest and most troubled of them walked away.

It was usually something mathematical that he spoke of so passionately, yet here he was talking of people this way.

Alan looked to the ground, he knew that what Charlie said was true, he and Margaret had fought over the distance of Charlie's schooling. That anger made it easy for him to ignore what she told him about their time there.

Don stared at his brother, shock and a bit of residual anger coloring how he currently saw his brother. Nonetheless, what he saw stunned him.

Whenever Don looked at Charlie he saw the math genius who everyone fought over or gave praise to, the annoying little brother who would always try to follow him and do as he did. Despite all that had happened between them, Don still saw that young, shy, annoyingly brilliant Boy his brother had been—not the Man he had grown up to be.

The man before him—the same man who now looked at crime scene photos with him, withheld information from him—was who his brother had become.

It just hadn't sunken in until now—until Charlie had come out and spelled it out for them who exactly he was, who had helped him to become that person.

It ticked him off that his brother had hidden this part of himself away from him, despite how close they had worked with each other, for how long they had been really working together.

But, as what was left of the anger drained away, he saw his brother as the man he was for the first time since their mother had gotten sick and they were reunited, since he had abandoned all of them to get away from Charlie and his overbearing brilliance.

He was strong but he was also angry—and more than likely hurt—because of he and their fathers oblivious treatment of him.

It made him wonder if Larry knew about this side of his brother? If the rest of his team saw the absent minded genius boy or the strong and amazingly brilliant man that boy had become.


	4. Brawling with Myself

Charles Edward Eppes sat in El Diablo's Cantina, a small dark and dingy bar in the darker side of LA, and nursed a beer.

Other patrons of the bar avoided the man like plague tonight.

It wasn't that he was violent or even vulgar when he talked—it was the intense look in his eyes that seemed to bore through your skull as he looked at you, his anger making him appear as a predator.

Most nights the man was just another patron looking to have a few quiet drinks as he watched the others around him. If a fight broke out he would be one to avoid though; it was not that he was an excellent fighter or could even throw a good punch.

He was a mathematician who had friends in rough places, who was used to not fighting himself, but using the environment against his opponents, using his brain to quickly figure out the ways to avoid getting hurt while hurting those around him.

He was damn good at it.

It was why no one was near him that night until a new idiot and his friend decided to pick on the man in the corner by himself, thinking he was an easy target.

Charlie got hit a total of once, gaining him a black eye.

His opponents weren't so lucky—they were beaten horribly.

At first it had been just him as the others watched, a glass bottle there, a chair here—he always paid for the furniture he broke, it was the rules of the bar.

But when one of them got up and pulled out a knife, then proceeded to trip and almost stab a patrons lady friend. . . All hell broke loose.

After they had been dealt with Charlie would admit that he felt better, and he began to feel even better when he went from that lone beer to Tequila, even if he was still pissed at his father and Don nothing could quite piss him off as much as he had been.

* * *

Come the next morning he woke up on a couch with a splitting headache and a throbbing eye.

After he looked around he flipped over, buried his head into his arms, and groaned as he realized he was in Amita and Marissa's apartment.

He moaned again as he heard a soft giggle from the kitchen, knowing they were both in there and laughing at his misfortune.

With a weary sigh he picked himself up off the couch and made his way towards their bathroom.

"Not a word from either of you, I'm a grown man and if I want to get into a bar brawl and totally trashed after fighting with my brother and father about who I consider family, I'm allowed. It wasn't a smart thing to do, but I'm old enough to make my own choices."

With that he jumped in their shower to try and escape his aches and pains.

Amita and Marissa held in their laughter until after they heard the shower run and then they almost fell as they gave into peals of laughter.

It wasn't often Charles Eppes got drunk, but when he did, it was memorable.

Soon, their laughter died off as they thought about why Charlie had gotten drunk. There wasn't much that could faze the genius like that except for his family. When things like this happened the line that Charlie flirted with on a constant basis with the numbers got even closer, causing both women to worry.

There was one person that they figured could help keep him grounded but they weren't sure he was open to relationships of the same sex. They knew Charlie would jump the man in a heartbeat if given the chance.

After all, Ian Edgerton was man who grabbed all of Charlie's attention and held onto it the whole time he was here. Not to mention as Charlie had once said, "He's got that dangerous vibe that just screams 'I'm gunna ride you hard and fast and make you wanna come back for more.'"

It had left the girls giggling for hours after that, pictures of the two intense men in heated passion floating through their minds and causing them to blush.

They may have been together but they weren't dead.

Still, despite their thoughts on who could tether their "beard" to earth, they were both worried about the outcome of whatever it was Charlie had said to his Father and Brother.

All of this had the potential to destroy Charlie, something no one would want.

* * *

Don walked into the bull pen at eight in the morning, coffee in hand and small frown marring his faceCharlie hadn't come home last night, according to their father.

In fact, he hadn't even gone into work, Amita was teaching his class. He'd called Charlie's office only to find that Amita was in his office, getting ready to teach his classes for the day. Her voice had been cool and clipped with him, her answers short and there was an undercurrent of anger that he'd barely caught; Don had resigned to himself that she definitely knew and was more than likely pissed at both him and his father for Charlie .

She said he was just "Getting away from everyone's bullshit."

Normally, he wouldn't even consider his brother using that kind of language, but yesterday kicked all of his assumptions about his brother out the window.

Two hours after he'd clocked in, Don sighed for the fourteenth time in an hour causing Megan's eyebrow to twitch as David and Colby traded worried glances.

Something had happened, presumably between Charlie and Don, and it was causing Don to be uptight and moody.

None of the three knew what to say or how to approach their boss on the subject, afraid they might end up in the cross fire.

Still, his inner turmoil manifesting itself outside his mind in the form of tapping, loud gum chewing, and the periodic loud sigh bothered his teammates until it caused Megan to finally explode.

"That's it! I've had it with you, Donald Eppes! What in the hell is going on that's got you wound tighter than goddamn drum?"

Don looked down at his desk, his brows furrowing together once more and a frown pulling at his face.

"Sorry Megan, I--I'm just worried about Charlie. We got into a fight last night about what David overheard him say while he was on the phone. He read Dad and I the riot act for jumping to conclusions without all the information and stormed out of the house. He hasn't been back since and Amita has taken over his classes for the day."

Megan's eyebrows furrowed as she looked at him, "What was the argument about."

David answered her, telling her what he'd told Don the day before.

"He was making plans with someone he called Mama Ro and several others, including a person called Uncle Ron, and Don said they didn't have anyone by that name in their family."

Megan turned back to their team leader, "What did he say after you made your assumptions known?"

They watched as Don finally just sighed and told them exactly what Charlie had said.

"Charlie dressed both me and Dad down with this flat cold monotone voice and intense furious eyes. It was different, _he_ was different, it seemed as if suddenly there was an entirely new person there that neither of us had never met before.

"He said that I shouldn't jump to conclusions when I don't have all of the information, and as it turns out, I didn't. He met Ms. Wolfe--Mama Ro, David--and her children while he was going to Princeton ."

Don's voice got softer with the next part, still slightly disbelieving yet filled with awe.

"They were Mom's friends--Charlie's friends--they were their family when Dad and I had our heads shoved so far up our asses because Dad didn't see why Mom wanted to go all the way across the country and I just wanted to get away from the genius brother whom everyone paid attention to.

"I've only ever seen him be so . . . Passionate about a math formula, never people. But there he was, glaring at Dad and I as he spoke of these people we've never heard about because we didn't take the time to know Charlie as the Man he is and not the Boy he was. Even after all this time we've spent together, I never thought about asking about his time at school, I figured it was the same as it was when we were in high school you, know? Him doodling his numbers on notebooks and concepts that would take weeks for me to learn clicking immediately in his head."

Megan just looked at Don with sympathy in her eyes, she and the guys had seen the way Don and their father had treated Charlie, like he was unable to take care of himself as if he were still a child.

But he was there with them--not in the front lines, of course--looking at crime scene photos and finding criminals who have done such horrible things.

He was so much more than either of them gave him credit for.

They looked at Charlie and saw the thirteen year old boy in high school, not the Math Professor, the Government Consultant with top level clearance, or the person who knew what he wanted out of life.

It seemed Charlie was finally tired of being treated as a child, tired of waiting for them to really see who he had become so he'd finally forced their eyes open.

* * *

Amita sighed as she wrapped up Charlie's last class of the day. It hurt her that he had to do this, had to force his family to see the difference between who he was now and who he was then.

So much about him was still a mystery for them.

Her and Marissa watched as he became more and more tense over time, the restraint he showed in not shoving the life he'd built without his brother and father in his life slowly causing him more harm than good.

Eventually, they would suddenly be thrust into all of Charlie's lifethe good and the bad, the honest and the criminal.

She hoped they could finally accept him for all that he really is and not the innocent little math maniac they had him as in their minds.


End file.
